Three weeks in

We have been living in the RV for three weeks now.  It already seems like home and it feels bigger every day.  We have had a steep learning curve as we moved in during a really cold snap, and if we could do it wrong we did.  Things like:

Running out of propane in the middle of the night.  It had gotten down to 18 degrees so I panicked.  I was sure we were all going to become human popcicles.  Luckily my husband was able to switch to the other tank and all was well.  And if it really was that bad we could have gone to the clubhouse to warm up. 

Same night the water hose froze.  We hadn't had time to insulate it yet.  It is now well insulated and hasn't frozen since.

The gray water tank backed up.  We thought we had the gray water tank open.  Apparently not, now we do.  Then we learned (the hard way) that we have two gray water tanks and they can both be kept open because they run out the same line.  Thankfully we learned all this with gray water, not black.  (For those of you not in the know of all the cool RV lingo...gray water equals sinks and shower, black water equals toilets.)

We are getting better at all this now.  It's not rocket science, just different from living in a house.

It's amazing to me how less than 400 square feet is feeling more than big enough to us now.  We all have enough space.  We have more than enough stuff.  We do more for each other as it's easier to just help someone out than get out of their way.  We are getting along as good or better than when we were in a house.  I can honestly imagine living this way for a long time, if not forever.

We are (technically) moved in

Here is a quick rundown of how picking up the RV went.  

We got up super early on my birthday to go to Dallas and learn how to use our new home.  It was so cold, but we got to learn all the ins and outs of setting it up, taking care of poop, keeping it warm and cool etc.  Plus I got to see how the sweet patio works.  The picture is a bit blurry, but that's how I seem to roll when I take pictures.

We spent about 3 hours in training and we were ready to go.  Except the person who was to drive this thing to the campground for us was driving RV's to the Forth Worth RV show.  We waited and waited and finally decided to go home with promises from our sales guy to keep us updated.  Three hours later I called and he was still, "working on it".  Finally got my husband to call and found out we wouldn't get it until morning.  I was crushed...I know in the grand scheme of things it wouldn't matter, but I was ready to start moving in.  

Finally the next morning it got there bright and early.  But they had forgotten to bring the power cord.  Luckily the heat does not need electricity and so we started moving stuff in.  By the time we went and got our second load the power cord was there and we were in business.

We did a total of 3 van loads and 2 car loads of stuff.  And my dream of putting away stuff as we unloaded it from the car vanished.  It got thrown in and we did our best.  What is that game called where you have to get the car out of the puzzle.  You move the pieces around in order to make room for the car to exit.  That is what the RV is right now.  A giant puzzle.  Every time we want to do something, we have to move 6 things and hope to not get distracted before we actually do the original task.

I took these pictures after one or two loads of stuff.  It's worse now.  I kinda freaked out last night, wondering what I had gotten myself into.  I know it always stinks when you first move in to a place because you can't find anything.  This is just a bit more complicated by the fact that it is so tiny.  But my daughter is all moved in and set up.  My 16 year old son told me he really liked it this morning.  And if you know him, that is huge.  He will love something and never let you know.  Chaos doesn't affect him much.  My daughter is not happy right now, but she hates chaos and I expect it will get better for both of us once we can move about properly.  And on that note...I am going to continue unpacking.

I have so much stuff

Monday is the day...the day we get our new digs.  It's my birthday too.  So this year I get the best birthday present ever.  We are so excited, nervous, stressed, and a million other emotions all balled up together.  We went and showed our oldest daughter the RV last week and just sat in there...soaking it all in.  We are really going to do this.

As we sort through our things we are finding it easier and easier to leave stuff behind.  I've loved experiencing the process of letting go.  When I start with 100 things, I think I need to keep at least 50 of them.  When I look at the 50 I see another 25 I can get rid of.  Then I look at that 25 and realize that I was holding onto an extra 15 that I didn't need.  So then I am down to 10 and it might get even less than that after a bit.  And it's really cool to see my children go through the same process.  I love that I am teaching them that all this stuff isn't important.  It will be interesting when they are grown up to see if they accumulate tons of stuff because of this process or if they realize they like living with less. 

I'm amazed at the stuff I have felt like I needed to keep all these years and I have moved it, stored it and moved it again.  How much money has keeping all this stuff cost me...never mind the effort to move it and find a place to store it.  Here are some items I have felt the need to keep all these years:

1.  A box of stuffed animals from my childhood.  Including a giant bear with a missing eye.  I couldn't even find the box to take a picture of it.  That's how buried and apparently important to me it is.  I can remember that bear vividly and even remember his name.  Which sounds like no big deal until you hear his name.  It's Christopher Thomas Robert Alexander Roger Ferguson Porter.  Somehow I can remember the ridiculously long name of my childhood toy, but not of the person I just met yesterday.   But the fact is, the bear is burned into my memory.  I don't need the actual bear.  If I find it I will take a picture of it.  If not, I have my memories.

2.  A bin of old baby clothes.  Most of which I barely remember which child wore them.  I went through it and found 3 items that my grandmother made and I wanted to keep for future grandchildren pictures.  Seriously though, why was I keeping a bunch of stained old clothes?  Like my children are going to be all...oh I wore that and it's all stained, I would love my child to wear that.  Um...no.

3.  While we are on the subject of clothes...let's view this lovely box. Can you read what it says....Jen's smaller clothes.  So I have been hauling around a box of clothes that are too small for me in the hopes I will lost weight.  Because that is exactly what I want as a reward for the hard work of losing a million pounds.  A box of old out of date clothing. 

4.  I've had this big bin of keepsakes for the last 25 years.  It's got stuff like an old jewelry box, a wooden doll that has no meaning to me, a sea shell my grandma bought for me.  Stuff that really doesn't mean anything and keeping it doesn't make me a better person.  This box was full and heavy.  I sorted out what I want to take pictures of or scan.  I threw away most of the stuff and here is what is left.  I would have thrown this stuff away too, but my estate sale person said to save everything.  Okay...I'm sure someone wants that sea shell and that shelf I made in 7th grade woodworking class has got to be worth at least a couple hundred dollars.  I mean....the great Jennifer Smith made it...maybe I should sign it.   :P

5.  I have a shelf full of first aid supplies.  You can't see half of what I have in there.  So if you are over to my house and your leg gets sawed off...I have the supplies needed.  Of course it's probably 20 years old because no one ever had their leg sawed off at my house before....but I'm ready!!

6.  And this is the best...a trampoline that hasn't been used in who knows how long.  It's currently storage for the lounge chairs we barely use...and the hose we don't use to keep it out of the way when my husband mows the lawn.  Such an efficient storage plan.

The best part of all this is helping each other out.  I was going to save a hat my son wore and my daughter looked at me and said...it's a denim hat...what do you need it for.  She was right.  My husband wanted to save our ladder...I said, we live in an RV...what do we need a ladder for...his response was, what if we wanted to hang something up in the tree?  He got the stink eye from me.  It really is easier to get rid of other people's stuff than your own.